Travels and thoughts

Kerala... I had promised my mother a trip to Guruvayoor for some years. I resolved to make it a reality this time around but I learned such trips materialize with God's grace indeed.  Once done, we had to return via Cochin for further travel in Karnataka (that will be subject for later blogs).  Sudha a dear school friend of mine is an old-time resident of Kochi and an ardent devotee of Kerala and all that it has to offer. During our exciting discussions, she suggested spending at least a day with her. She promised to make it worth our while. She briefly mentioned that the dates of our travel coincided with a festival happening around that time which would be worth experiencing. With our curiosity aroused, we decided to make a small detour in our plans to accommodate Kochi. Ernakulam Shiva Temple, also known as Ernakulathappan ( Lord of  Ernakulam) is located in the heart of Ernakulam town and dedicated to Lord Shiva. The presiding deity is believed to be the prote...

Friendships  are born in a million different ways, and all good friends strive to achieve the same goal: to be a source of love and support. There are friends, family and friends who become family. Jiji John, as I know her, is one such friend of mine. Our friendship dates back to 35 years ago, when we were in high school. Jiji and her younger sister Viji would travel with us in the long train ride to Tambaram. My sister and me would alight the train at Guindy station and sit next to the John sisters. We would reach school happily chatting and holding hands. Thanks to social media we reconnected 5 years ago. It was so easy to pick up the threads of conversation. There were no awkward silences or hesitation. We spoke of our school days with fond memories. Now both of us were mothers with adult children. As a yearly ritual I take a trip to one of my favorite pilgrimage spots - Guruvayoor temple. Every year I would alight at Kochi airport, cab it to Guruvayoor temple, sta...

Welcome to one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Grand Canyon was on my list of priorities - somehow, despite expressed and unexpressed desires, it never came about despite numerous trips to the USA over the last ten years. However, not one to easily let go, I sounded out my kids - now full-blown adults - for a trip to GC over the July 4th weekend, 2019. To my happy surprise and a bit of astonishment, they undertook planning and arranging the trip. Grand Canyon is 277 miles (446 km) long, up to 18 miles (29 km) wide, and attains a depth of over a mile. Located in the northwest corner of Arizona, close to the borders of Utah and Nevada, it was carved by the Colorado River and its tributaries which cut through layers of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted, over the centuries. Landing in Vegas a day before, we had a restful night and a hearty meal at 3 am at the Cosmopolitan before setting off on our road trip to North Rim. The five-hour Arizona road trip from Vegas to t...

Located around 350km north west of Vietnam is Sapa- a verdant valley nestled between imposing mountains with views of paddy fields and rolling hills. the first impact of the lush greenery is blissful and calming. Sapa is situated at a height of 1650m and has wonderful temperatures of 17 - 14 in May. As it rains sporadically at this time of the year, we were greeted with rainfall now and then. We drove from Hanoi to Sapa. The journey took around 5 hours with halts in small rest houses that provided basic amenities and food. Tender coconuts were in abundance - served chilled. The day was beautiful for the journey. Within half hour we were on the highway to Sapa. The first  pitter patter of rain drops on the windows was music to our ears.  The lush greenery  around us with the clouds drifting lazily in the breeze was p was soothing to Dubaizens. Stopping by at one of the rest houses, we tried the local hookka, which was trifle strong on the throat.  We stopped ...